Artemis Funds (Lux) – US Focus
Q2 2026 update
Source for all information: Artemis as at 30 June 2026, unless otherwise stated.
Artemis Funds (Lux) – US Focus is an actively managed fund. The fund invests principally in equities of companies that are listed, headquartered or that exercise the predominant part of their economic activities in the US. Its objective is to increase the value of shareholders’ investments primarily through capital growth.
On 14 April 2026 the name of the fund changed from Artemis Funds (Lux) – US Select to Artemis Funds (Lux) – US Focus.
Review of the quarter to 30 June 2026
• The fund returned 31.5% over the quarter compared with 15.1% from its benchmark
• Top contributors included Advanced Micro Devices, Seagate and Applied Materials
• Detractors included Intel, Walmart and Primoris Services
• Markets are now looking beyond the conflict in the Middle East and are refocusing on company fundamentals
US equities had a strong second quarter as investors looked past geopolitical uncertainty and focused instead on the resilience of the domestic economy. Early concerns about the impact of elevated energy prices eased following an interim agreement between the US and Iran, with Brent crude recording its largest quarterly decline since the pandemic. As fears of stagflation faded, a broad recovery helped the S&P 500 to its strongest quarterly return since the post-Covid rebound in 2020.
Technology remained the principal driver of market performance as continued investment in AI infrastructure supported demand for the shares of semiconductor and memory companies. Yet earnings momentum broadened out during the quarter, with resilient economic data and improving corporate profitability supporting a wide range of sectors. While the Federal Reserve struck a more hawkish tone in response to continued strength in the labour market, investors were reassured by the resilience of the US economy and the durability of corporate earnings growth.
Performance
In a strong quarter for the S&P 500, we were pleased to outperform convincingly, returning 31.5% versus 15.1% for the fund’s S&P 500 NTR benchmark index (in dollars). Over one year, the fund has returned 41.7% compared with 21.9% from its benchmark. Stock selection was once again the key driver of returns.
| Three months | Six months | One year | Three years | Five years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artemis Funds (Lux) – US Focus | 31.5% | 22.6% | 41.7% | 103.5% | 90.9% |
| S&P 500 NTR* | 15.1% | 10.0% | 21.9% | 74.2% | 86.2% |
| US Large-Cap Growth Equity average | 17.5% | 6.0% | 12.5% | 63.7% | 44.7% |
Past performance is not a guide to the future. Source: Lipper Limited/Artemis as at 30 June 2026 for class I Acc USD. All figures show total returns with dividends and/or income reinvested, net of all charges. Performance does not take account of any costs incurred when investors buy or sell the fund. Returns may vary as a result of currency fluctuations if the investor's currency is different to that of the class.
*As at 6 Aug 24 the benchmark changed to S&P 500 NTR (Standard). Returns up to 6 Aug 24 reflect those of the S&P 500 TR.
Fund 10-year discrete performance
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
| Artemis Funds (Lux) US Focus | 18.1% | 27.0% | 29.1% | -24.1% | 21.1% | 19.0% | 34.1% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| S&P 500 NTR | 17.4% | 24.8% | 26.3% | -18.1% | 28.7% | 18.4% | 31.5% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Past performance is not a guide to the future. Source: Lipper Limited/Artemis as at 31 December 2025 for class I Acc USD. All figures show total returns with dividends and/or income reinvested, net of all charges. Performance does not take account of any costs incurred when investors buy or sell the fund. Returns may vary as a result of currency fluctuations if the investor's currency is different to that of the class. As at 6 Aug 24 the benchmark changed to S&P 500 NTR (Standard). Returns up to 6 Aug 24 reflect those of the S&P 500 TR.
Contributors
Memory companies Micron Technology and Seagate continued to contribute positively to returns, as they benefited from growing demand for storage and a tightening market for memory. AI workloads are transitioning from training to the significantly more memory-intensive task of 'inference', where an AI model puts the patterns learned in training to work.
The ongoing wave of investment in AI boosted demand for Advanced Micro Devices’ semiconductors. It also helped Lam Research and Applied Materials, both of which supply equipment used in chip manufacturing.
Detractors
Amazon came under pressure as investors rotated out of the hyperscalers and into beneficiaries of the AI capex boom. Although we are running a large underweight in Microsoft, we believe Amazon is in a position of strength relative to the other hyperscalers. It produces its own CPUs (computer processing units), it already has significant compute capacity in its AWS cloud division and, of course, it has a strong retail business which continues to gain market share. We topped up our position.
Primoris Services reported earnings that were well below expectations. We exited the position entirely and it has continued to underperform since our sale.
Walmart announced a slight reduction in its earnings guidance for the second quarter and struck a more cautious tone in describing the outlook for the second half of the year. Although it remains unclear what impact higher gas prices will have on US consumers, the most important drivers of Walmart's business remain in place and anxieties around consumer spending should fade as tensions in the Middle East ease.
Activity
We recycled some profits from Advanced Micro Devices into software company ServiceNow, whose valuation was hit by fears of AI disruption. Those fears look misguided to us. We think it can use AI to enhance its product offering.
The fund's exposure to the hyperscalers is evolving. As mentioned above, we added to Amazon but trimmed our positions in Meta and Apple due to concerns about their relative weakness in the AI buildout.
Axon Enterprise has been caught up in the underperformance of software this year on fears of AI disruption. We do not agree with this view: Axon occupies a unique position as a technology partner providing hardware and software to police departments and has developed a significant AI platform over the past couple of years. After reducing our exposure in the previous quarter, we have started to rebuild our position.
We bought UnitedHealth, as it looks attractively valued and is set to benefit from a recovery in earnings.
In terms of sector positioning, we have maintained the fund's overweight to industrials and increased its exposure to healthcare. Its biggest underweights are in communication services and technology.
Outlook
The market's focus appears to have shifted away from geopolitical concerns and towards the underlying strength of the US economy and the future path of interest rates. While higher bond yields may continue to create periods of volatility, the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East has seen these retreat and oil prices move lower. Although the macro backdrop is admittedly uncertain, we believe the US remains well positioned given the resilience of domestic demand and continued corporate investment. Recent data have pointed to a resilient economy, with the manufacturing sector expanding after nearly three years of contraction. Earnings expectations for a broad range of companies have continued to improve and we hope to see evidence of this broadening-out trend continuing in the upcoming results season.
The buildout of AI infrastructure is another important theme. The hyperscalers’ investment plans, prospective public listings of companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI (and the recent IPO of SpaceX), and equity raises by the likes of Alphabet reinforce our conviction that investment in AI infrastructure has further to run. We continue to see attractive opportunities in businesses that supply the hardware, software and services underpinning this buildout.
While AI is clearly an important area of opportunity, our investment approach continues to be driven by bottom-up stock selection. We remain focused on identifying high-quality companies with differentiated, long-term growth prospects, both within AI and across a broad range of sectors where company-specific fundamentals rather than macroeconomic outcomes are the primary drivers of value creation.
CAPITAL AT RISK. All financial investments involve taking risk and the value of your investment may go down as well as up. This means your investment is not guaranteed and you may not get back as much as you put in. Any income from the investment is also likely to vary and cannot be guaranteed.
This is a marketing communication. Before making any final investment decisions, and to understand the investment risks involved, refer to the fund prospectus (or in the case of investment trusts, Investor Disclosure Document and Articles of Association), available in English, and KIID/KID, available in English and in your local language depending on local country registration, available in the literature library.
Risks specific to Artemis Funds (Lux) – US Focus
- Market volatility risk The value of the fund and any income from it can fall or rise because of movements in stockmarkets, currencies and interest rates, each of which can move irrationally and be affected unpredictably by diverse factors, including political and economic events.
- Currency risk The fund’s assets may be priced in currencies other than the fund base currency. Changes in currency exchange rates can therefore affect the fund's value.
- Concentration risk The fund may have investments concentrated in a limited number of holdings. This can be more risky than holding a wider range of investments.
- Charges from capital risk Where charges are taken wholly or partly out of a fund's capital, distributable income may be increased at the expense of capital, which may constrain or erode capital growth.
- ESG risk The fund may select, sell or exclude investments based on ESG criteria; this may lead to the fund underperforming the broader market or other funds that do not apply ESG criteria. If sold based on ESG criteria rather than solely on financial considerations, the price obtained might be lower than that which could have been obtained had the sale not been required.
The intention of Artemis’ ‘investment insights’ articles is to present objective news, information, data and guidance on finance topics drawn from a diverse collection of sources. Content is not intended to provide tax, legal, insurance or investment advice and should not be construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any security or investment by Artemis or any third-party. Potential investors should consider the need for independent financial advice. Any research or analysis has been procured by Artemis for its own use and may be acted on in that connection. The contents of articles are based on sources of information believed to be reliable; however, save to the extent required by applicable law or regulations, no guarantee, warranty or representation is given as to its accuracy or completeness. Any forward-looking statements are based on Artemis’ current opinions, expectations and projections. Articles are provided to you only incidentally, and any opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. The source for all data is Artemis, unless stated otherwise. The value of an investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise as a result of market and currency fluctuations and you may not get back the amount originally invested.
